Seeking Comfort
by BellaLeigh1
Summary: Sometimes you just need physical contact to remind yourself that despite everything, you're still alive. Haylijah What happened between episodes 3x21 and 3x22. One-shot


"It was the only way to be sure, Elijah." Not that she thought there was much hope of him actually listening to her. But, she had to try. "And Klaus. I think that part of him sees that, already. More than anything, you have to forgive yourself."

He still wouldn't even look at her. She just wished that he would turn around. And then he did. And, in a way, that was almost worse. He was crying. Not that she really expected anything else. But, seeing the tears on stoic Elijah's face was just about her own undoing.

He still said nothing. Just walked past her. And all she could do was stand there, her heart aching for him. But, not knowing what to do for him, how to help him. How to comfort him. She couldn't even try to stop him. Because, if he didn't want her around, right now, then she wasn't going to force herself on him.

Until she heard him turn around. Take a step towards her. As soon as she turned to look at him, his hand was in her hair, and his lips were on hers. She closed her eyes, grabbed the back of his head to hold him to her, and returned his kiss.

His other arm went around her, pulling her close. There was a desperation to his kiss that just about took her breath away. Though, the part of her still capable of logical thought kind of understood it. They had been through hell, the past few months. And now it was over. Or at least, the worst of it seemed to be over.

She gasped as his lips left hers to trail a line of kisses down her neck. "Elijah."

He pulled away, then. And at first, she was afraid that he was about to get all noble on her and remember that she had said that she couldn't be with him, out of respect for Jackson. But then he smiled, and picked her up into a bridal carry. He carried her like that all the way to his bedroom, where he kicked the door closed before setting her on her feet. When he finally kissed her again, it was gentler than before. There was still a hint of desperation, but something else, as well.

It wasn't until he once again pulled away, and looked her in the eyes as he slowly started undoing her belt, and then lifting her dress over her head that she understood it. She could see it in his eyes. A need for the comfort that she was more than willing to give him. If she was being honest with herself, she needed it, too. There had been so much death lately that they had hardly had time to really process it.

But, tonight wasn't about death. It was about life. And about love. And a need to be close to each other, to let themselves believe what it had been so very hard to believe, lately - that they were both still here. She had confessed her love for him and then walked away, before. But that had been before Finn. Before it had been thrown in their faces that even Elijah can die. She had thought when she walked away that she had years, decades, centuries to deal with her issues and that she and Elijah would find their way back to each other some day, when she was ready to forgive herself for loving him. Now, even the Mikaelsons' future had become uncertain. She shuddered at the thought that it could have been Elijah that had been killed.

A shudder that her noble Elijah misinterpreted. He gave her a sad smile, and then started to turn away. "I'm sorry. When you kissed me back, I... I shouldn't have assumed."

Hayley sighed and reached out to turn him to face her. "Don't. I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be, Elijah. I just... I realized that Lucian could have tested his new abilities on you. It scared me. The thought that you could have died." She reached up and pushed his jacket off of his shoulders before loosening his tie and pulling it over his head. "Believe me, I need this as much as you do. Maybe more."

His response was to pull her back into his arms. But, not for another kiss. Instead, he just held her close, his hands rubbing up and down her back. His turn to comfort her, to reassure her. "Shhh. It's okay. I'm here. I'm still here. And I'm not going anywhere. I'm here, Hayley. And we're going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay."

She still wasn't entirely sure that she believed that. But, she was going to take whatever the universe was willing to give her, for as long as it was willing to give it. Even if that turned out to only be this one night. For one night, she could pretend that the rest of the world didn't exist. That there weren't still people who wanted the Mikaelsons dead. The prophecy had been thwarted. And, even if it was only for one night, she was going to pretend that Elijah was right and everything was going to be okay.

She pulled away slightly, just enough to tilt her head up and look at him. She didn't need any words, he already knew what she wanted. He smiled and lowered his head for another kiss. And now, the desperation was gone. There was only gentleness, and love. Her hands came up between them and she started unbuttoning his shirt. A part of her wanted to just rip his clothes off, but there was something about taking this slow that was turning her on more than she could have ever imagined it could. And so she slowly eased each button of his shirt open, one by one.

She didn't even notice that he had unclasped her bra and started to lower the straps. Until she ran her hands up his chest to his shoulders, and he let go of her just long enough for her to push his shirt off of him and for him to pull her bra straps the rest of the way down. Both articles of clothing fell to the floor, and when Elijah wrapped his arms around her again and pulled her close, they met skin to skin.

Hayley moaned as the contact caused moisture to pool between her legs. Causing her to be a bit quicker with Elijah's belt and the button and zipper on his pants. And then she grabbed the waistbands of his pants and his boxers at the same time and yanked them both down.

Not that Elijah gave her a chance to do anything about him now being completely naked. As soon as he had stepped out of his clothes, he picked Hayley up and laid her on the bed.

Hayley expected him to pick up the pace, then. Instead, he slowly explored every inch of her body, with his hands, his lips, his tongue. Bringing her just to the brink before backing off and letting her catch her breath. Again and again. Until she couldn't take one more second of him not being inside her. "Elijah, please."

The smile he gave her made her breath catch. And then, he finally started to ease himself into her, inch by inch. Once he was completely inside her, he reached up and brushed her hair off of her face. "I love you."

For the second time in less than a minute, Hayley's breath caught. He had never said that, before. Oh, he had shown her, in a million little ways, practically from the day they had met. But, actually saying the words? Putting himself out there, being open and vulnerable with her? That was new. "I love you, too." It seemed inadequate to express what she was feeling in that moment. But, the gentle smile he gave her before kissing her softly told her that he understood.

And then he started to move. Slowly, gently. This wasn't just sex. It was a declaration of love. Maybe even more of one than them actually saying the words was.

Hayley wrapped her arms and legs around him and moved with him, keeping to the same slow, gentle pace he set. Until the pleasure started to get to them both, and they increased their tempo.

And then Hayley shattered. She cried out Elijah's name seconds before the sound of her own name rang in her ears, as he found his own release.

Eventually, Elijah rolled off of her and pulled her close so that she was using his chest as a pillow. He kissed her forehead, and sighed. "I really do love you, you know. More than I've ever loved anyone, before."

"I feel the same way."

"No regrets?"

Hayley smiled. Even now, after making love to her, Elijah was still his same noble self. Still worried about somehow hurting her. "None at all." Though, that was a lie. She did have one regret. That she had let her guilt over Jackson's death keep her and Elijah apart all these months. But, she couldn't tell him that. So, she let her one tiny lie stand.

 **~Seeking Comfort~**

Hayley woke up to the feeling of Elijah's hand gently caressing her back. She rolled over to see him looking at her, and had to smile. "Were you watching me sleep?"

"Mmm. Possibly." He held his hand up, thumb and index finger a couple millimeters apart. "A little." He picked her hand up and kissed it. He looked pensive, though.

So, in a reversal of the night before, it was Hayley's turn to reassure him. "Despite everything that we've done, all those we've lost, we're still here. You're not alone."

He kissed her, then. And Hayley had to admit to herself that that wasn't a bad thing to wake up to. In fact, she wouldn't have minded a repeat of the night before. But, it seemed that Elijah had other ideas. "I told you last night that I'm not going anywhere. But, the truth is that nothing is truly certain, anymore. You were right. It could have been me. And that other dose of the serum is still out there, somewhere. I've been thinking. And, what I'm about to say may make you hate me."

"Then don't say it."

"I'd rather have it out in the open, and know for sure how you feel about it, than live with this secret that could destroy us at any moment. Besides, I've already said too much to not finish. Eventually, you wondering what it could have been will end up coming between us."

She had to admit that he was right. "All right." She took a deep breath. "Go on."

"I can't help but wish that… when you told me about the unification ritual and how you marrying Jackson could help us stop my mother that… That I had been honest with you, then. That I hadn't swallowed my own pride, and the horrible feeling that the thought of you with someone else gave me. That I had told you then that I love you, and begged you not to go through with it, to give us a chance to find another way to deal with things. There is the purely unselfish fact that if I had, Jackson would probably still be alive. But, that isn't why I wish I had done things differently. I wish it, because we could have been together all this time."

Hayley's eyes were burning from her tears, and one look at Elijah's face showed that he was crying too. "Shh… It's okay. I don't hate you for that. And, you're right. Jackson was killed because of me. Without me in his life, there would have been no reason to kill him."

"I just… What you said last night. About how it could have been me. If it had been, I would have died without ever actually telling you how much I love you. I would have left you not knowing."

"I did know, though. You might not have been able to say it, but I did know." She smiled. "Not that it wasn't nice to hear you actually say the words. I am not going to lie and say that a girl doesn't need that, sometimes. But, you don't need to feel guilty or worry about me hating you over this. The truth is… I had wanted you to do that when I told you about it. If I'm being perfectly honest with myself. I wanted you to stop me. To tell me not to give up on us, and that we'd figure something else out to protect Hope and the pack, but that me marrying someone else wasn't the way to do it." She could tell from the way he inhaled that he was about to say something, and she put a finger to his lips. "Shh… This isn't an accusation. It's just me wanting the past year back, too. I did grow to love Jackson. But, it was never what I have always felt for you. But, you know what the great thing about being immortal is?"

"What's that?"

"When you and I are celebrating our thousandth anniversary, the fact that that milestone should have come a year earlier is hardly going to matter."

Elijah laughed and kissed her. A kiss that started out playful, but quickly turned passionate.

It ended up being a very long time before Hayley crawled out of Elijah's bed to go rescue Klaus from baby duty. The danger wasn't completely over, and wouldn't be until they had found and destroyed the rest of the serum. But, for now, she was just going to enjoy the weirdness that passed for family life around here.


End file.
